Obs local weighs in on cannabis debate

By Trevor Hughes

No one should go to jail for using cannabis.

The real crime is the punishment, jail terms or large fines, more harmful than the offense. If all users in Observatory, for instance, were punished with a jail term, we'd most likely have a half empty suburb. Cannabis users are everywhere.

They could be your doctor, your dentist, your hairdresser, your plumber, your local constabulary, your friendly local councillor or the guy that sweeps the street. Cannabis users come from all spheres in society and most of them have no problem with it until they get caught.

Why is it that one can smoke and drink freely but not use cannabis? Nicotine and alcohol can be far more damaging and dangerous to those that use them. Cannabis should be in the same category.

Attitudes are slowly changing and that is a good thing. Money wastefully spent catching, prosecuting and jailing cannabis offenders can be spent better elsewhere, fighting real crime.

The police will also have time freed up to concentrate on criminals.

The recent Cape High Court decision on the use and cultivation of cannabis in private homes is quite an important milestone on the way to ending prohibition in South Africa. In his judgment, Judge Dennis Davis found inconsistencies with the current legislation and has given the government two years to rectify them.

By no means has cannabis been legalised, but the action brought by Jeremy Acton, leader of the Dagga party and Gareth Prince, an activist, has certainly advanced the cause of the anti-prohibitionists.

Another challenge to the laws will be heard by the Pretoria High Court in August 2017.

Jules Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke aka The Dagga Couple will be challenging the government that it is unconstitutional to prohibit the use of cannabis for recreational, medical and industrial reasons.

Prohibition is and will always be a complete failure. It simply pushes markets underground and lets the criminal element control the supply.

Legalisation and regulation should be the preferred model. Along with prohibiting cannabis for personal consumption and medical use, its industrial brother, hemp, has also been outlawed.

There are almost infinite uses for industrial hemp including textiles, paper, cosmetic, food, oil, construction and many other forms of industry.

So why is it illegal?

Hemp was outlawed in the early 1900s for political and industrial control reasons.

Hemp is easy and cheap to grow and process and anyone can do it, thus hard to control. Still today many of these industries lobby for the status-quo to remain, fearing competition.

The prohibitionists have a loud voice and much propaganda to back themselves up.

Ever heard that cannabis is the gateway drug? Gateway to relaxation and pleasure sure, but to other harder drugs?

No. It stands to reason that users of harder drugs have often tried cannabis first, but the prohibitionists have no answer for the millions of people who use cannabis and never other drugs.

Its not hard to confuse correlation with causation and the slippery slope chosen by prohibition. Cannabis and schizophrenia?

Cannabis is not for everyone, and there should be sensible policies regarding use by minors, as there is with alcohol and tobacco.

But as far as consenting adults, there should be no reason why cannabis is prohibited.